“This is the moment” – mode the new stadium in Overwatch 2 is the biggest change in 9 years

In May 2016, Studio Studio Blizzard fired Hero, Overwatch. A month later, the game added a competitive position, and it remained relatively conditional through Overwatch 2, supplement 2022. On Tuesday, it will launch the new Overwatch 2 StadiumWhich may be the biggest change in the game in nearly nine years.

Although competitive coordination remains more or less as it is, a lot happened between the first days of Overwatch and the beginning of the stadium – dozens of Metas, drought, wonderful content, and the transformation into 5V5 with Overwatch 2 launchAdd concessions, and a lot of grandmother’s modes such as MyStery Heroes and a long list of custom games that made players. But for all these changes and options, the stadium is what Overwatch Devs expects more people’s play than others.

In group media interviews online, game manager Aaron Keeler said that if anyone waiting for the Overwatch experience or returning to the game, the stadium is the time.

It is an important test of long -term expectations for Overwatch, four months after the shooting Hero shooter The marvel of competitorsIt is a game recently passed 40 million players. Overwatch and its free development to play Overwatch 2 was the realistic champion in most of the past decades, with the largest competition of other archers such as the Apix and Bastran legends, which focused more on the various sub -wings of the Battle Royales and Tactical Reserers. But when the competitors fired with the feverish play that reminds us of the early days of early surveillance, along with an amazingly exorbitant list of the favorite Marvel, gave the players something newer and cheek to play.

The question was: How will Overwatch respond?

It seems that the stadium, which Keeler noticed has been working since before the launch of Overwatch 2, is the solution. It takes the familiar Overwatch format-two teams of players divided through three different roles, and the champions played with unique capabilities on the maps based on themes-and they shake them all and pump them full of adrenaline.

Suddenly, Rinhardt is not just around the corner or angle; It flies across the air. Anna strengthens Nano its entire team. Mai turned into a giant snowball rolling around you.

At the same time, your Zaria team may launch itself when you binders, which divorce mini twice twice, while Kiriko becomes ultimately unprecedented.

The stadium revolves around moving the basic capabilities of all of the new jobs and greatly expanded. It is a game that I expect to like two types of players in particular: First, it will be a great success with people who really love certain heroes and want to be able to play them in every situation, and choose talents and elements that allow them to adapt to their opponents. But secondly, this may also gain strength with people who want to think and tamper – people who want to manufacture a different theory of heroes and test them against competition. Overwatch’s basic game can be difficult for these types of players due to the spread of the inscription and the general lack of breaks in the match; The stadium offers some interesting alternatives.

Besides rapid play and competitive conditions, the stadium was designed to be the third main pillar of play – Keeler said there is a separate team of people and “a lot of resources” for stadium mode.

I asked if the stadium was designed to respond to a shift in the needs of the player in Overwatch. Keeler referred to three desires for the player, which the new situation wanted to address: more stopping time, more strategy and the greatest focus on the imagination of strength. The stadium is the best game mode in the seven, where each round is a brief version of other game conditions such as control or payment-mainly, a short and sweet explosion of concentrated procedures that still adhere to familiar rules groups. Between those tours, the players will get a breathing space to think about the formation of the enemy team and how to build strategically against them by obtaining new powers and “elements” that enhance the capabilities of heroes.

A stadium abandons the hero, and instead, it encourages players to build about their challenges. For example, heroes such as Genji and D.VA can buy the package damage capabilities, which are traditionally struggling. Likewise, flying champions traditionally faced Renhardt. However, Pharah and Echo players should be a little more cautious, knowing that Rinhard may capture himself in their direction, and threaten them with their design on the wall – perhaps with additional explosive damage!

This distinctive mechanics is a stadium as the latest and largest evidence that Overwatch Devs moves away from the game’s focus on a carefully balanced experience and instead allow players to adopt the fully power imagination of its heroes. Keeler said that Davis pushed the stadium beyond the other game conditions, which means that the team took more freedoms when it comes to cooking strong and promotions for the list of playable characters.

I will try the stadium this week before the launch of season 16 next week. After Overwatch 2 coverage since the experimental version in 2022, I saw that the game takes steady but slow steps in healthy directions – although the fans may have stopped slowly over the past years. The stadium is preparing to be a real leap, and I am excited to see if it can rise to the level of noise that you want to inspire in the current, returning and new players.

The stadium will be launched in the sixteenth season starting from April 22. The new situation will include 17 heroes and nine maps, although Devs said it will constantly develop, with the addition of new heroes a lot.